Where Bitching is Best

Post navigation

It’s easy to get fat when you’re poor in the U.S.

Have you ever noticed how quick folks are to donate food, but how slow they are to donate anything else? The government is the same way; foodstamps come first and in greater supply than cash or any other type of support.

Now try being poor and asking for something else after you’ve been given food (y’know like toiletries or cleaning supplies). The outpouring of support quickly dries up when we’re not asking for food.

When you’re poor you can’t afford to pay for very many ways to treat yourself, not that you have time to enjoy it when you work, have kids, and/or are attempting to meet the life goals that society tells you will solve your poverty problem. But you have plenty of food! Treating yourself becomes food-based, since that’s what you’ve got in abundance.

Fear about not being able to afford necessities also drives us to overeat as a defense mechanism.

Happy family experiences of the poor can be associated with food since that’s often the venue in which the poor engage in family time (they can’t exactly bond during travel or entertainment without resources to accomodate those expenses).

High calorie foods are typically cheaper than healthy foods in the U.S., making it that much easier to gain weight.

Stress and chronic illness wreak havoc on our bodies and metabolism rate is affected as well.

Although exercise is free, time is limited for poor people, especially considering their longer commute times and irregular work schedules. Without the time to exercise it’s harder to keep that slim figure in form.